Go to the root of evil, Blair urges

– Former British prime minister Tony Blair will warn on Thursday that the threat from Islamist militants is growing and the current approach for tackling the threat will fail unless there is a global strategy to tackle the roots of extremism.

Launching a new “Global Extremism Monitor” by his Institute for Global Change that tracks incidents of Islamist extremism,

London

Blair will say that “security alone will never be enough” and governments need to focus more on prevention.

In a report, his institute found there are 121 violent Islamist groups operating globally and they were responsible for more than 84 000 deaths in 2017, mainly in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Nigeria.

Blair, Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said the world spends billions of dollars each year on new security at airports and counter-terrorism, but only a fraction on measures to tackle the underlying ideology.

He instead calls for higher spending on education and development, investing in war-torn states and supporting Muslim leaders working to counter extremism. – Reuters

Suraphong Suepchai Bangkok firefighter